02-22-2008, 07:10 PM
Houston area students enjoy opportunity to fish for college championship
Three Houston area college students - Cameron Crow, Casey Sobczak, and Kenny Stewart - had a chance to bask in the spotlight of national attention at the BoatUS 2007 National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship in September.
The Tournament, conducted on Lewisville Lake, was filmed extensively throughout the week and aired as the BoatUS National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship television series on Fox College Sports in January.
Although they did not finish in the top five, the experience and a chance to meet other college bass anglers from across the United States made it a great time.
The Tournament featured teams from the Big 10, Big 12, WAC, Sun Belt and SEC athletic conferences.
A total of 83 teams were competing for college scholarship money for their respective college bass fishing clubs.
Winners of the tournament were Trevor Knight and Justin Rackley from Texas A&M with a combined catch of 20.22 pounds. They took home $14,000 in scholarship money. They edged out Nathan Baum and Adam Hock of Western Kentucky.
"We fished hard," Rackley said. "We caught lots of short fish, so we stayed optimistic about another keeper fish right up until weigh-in time. We're proud to take this national title back to A&M."
The pair went on to say they caught two of their fish on a small finesse soft plastic worm, one on a white tube and one on a jig.
The Nationals was Cameron Crow's first chance to try his hand in bass fishing and also compete in a national tournament.
Crow, who is from the Sagemont area of Houston, attends Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Jerrod Hawkes, his roommate needed a fishing partner and it didn't cost anything, so Crow thought, why not.
He was not entirely new to fishing, though most of his angling had been for crappie and catfish, using a spinning outfit.
"We spent a couple of weeks practicing, Jerrod teaching me how to cast a bait casting rod and reel, learning a couple of things that we thought would be best for the lake at that time," Crow said.
They tossed a combination of soft and hard plastic baits in the tournament.
"We had opportunities and lost fish," Crow said. "We lost 10 pounds of bass the second day of the tournament that could have ended up putting us in the top five for the last day of fishing."
They ended up in 21st place with a total catch of 12.48 pounds.
The tournament was three days long. The top five teams in cumulative weight fished day three for the championship.
Casey Sobczak is an artist and angler.
He graduated in May from Stephen F. Austin State University and fished with Kyle Turner.
Sobczak, who is from Spring, is not an artist in the sense that he paints or draws pictures. His art is refinishing plastic or wooden lures.
His work is so good that many of the touring professional anglers from all over the United States buy baits from him. Some of his work is listed on eBay and has received bids as high as $70 to $80 for one lure.
In contrast to Crow, Sobczak knows all about tournament bass fishing. Bass N Bucks and Bass Champs are a couple of the tournaments that he regularly fishes.
In 2005, Sobczak and Turner won their first collegiate tournament.
"We were number one in the nation for almost two years," Sobczak said. "We were the big shots coming in at Lewisville. I guess we did well, but we didn't do as good as we would have liked."
Conroe's Kenny Stewart, who attends Texas A&M University, was also fishing in the National Championship and in Lewisville for the first time. His fishing partner was Andy Rice. They finished in twentieth place with 12.58 ounces of bass.
"It was easy to catch fish; it was just hard to catch keeper fish," Stewart said.
Many of their better fish were caught in late afternoon on finesse baits. He says he thinks he caught the biggest fish of the tournament, which was around five pounds.
"It didn't earn me anything, but I was able to say we sucked it up and caught the biggest fish," Stewart said.
Three Houston area college students - Cameron Crow, Casey Sobczak, and Kenny Stewart - had a chance to bask in the spotlight of national attention at the BoatUS 2007 National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship in September.
The Tournament, conducted on Lewisville Lake, was filmed extensively throughout the week and aired as the BoatUS National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship television series on Fox College Sports in January.
Although they did not finish in the top five, the experience and a chance to meet other college bass anglers from across the United States made it a great time.
The Tournament featured teams from the Big 10, Big 12, WAC, Sun Belt and SEC athletic conferences.
A total of 83 teams were competing for college scholarship money for their respective college bass fishing clubs.
Winners of the tournament were Trevor Knight and Justin Rackley from Texas A&M with a combined catch of 20.22 pounds. They took home $14,000 in scholarship money. They edged out Nathan Baum and Adam Hock of Western Kentucky.
"We fished hard," Rackley said. "We caught lots of short fish, so we stayed optimistic about another keeper fish right up until weigh-in time. We're proud to take this national title back to A&M."
The pair went on to say they caught two of their fish on a small finesse soft plastic worm, one on a white tube and one on a jig.
The Nationals was Cameron Crow's first chance to try his hand in bass fishing and also compete in a national tournament.
Crow, who is from the Sagemont area of Houston, attends Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Jerrod Hawkes, his roommate needed a fishing partner and it didn't cost anything, so Crow thought, why not.
He was not entirely new to fishing, though most of his angling had been for crappie and catfish, using a spinning outfit.
"We spent a couple of weeks practicing, Jerrod teaching me how to cast a bait casting rod and reel, learning a couple of things that we thought would be best for the lake at that time," Crow said.
They tossed a combination of soft and hard plastic baits in the tournament.
"We had opportunities and lost fish," Crow said. "We lost 10 pounds of bass the second day of the tournament that could have ended up putting us in the top five for the last day of fishing."
They ended up in 21st place with a total catch of 12.48 pounds.
The tournament was three days long. The top five teams in cumulative weight fished day three for the championship.
Casey Sobczak is an artist and angler.
He graduated in May from Stephen F. Austin State University and fished with Kyle Turner.
Sobczak, who is from Spring, is not an artist in the sense that he paints or draws pictures. His art is refinishing plastic or wooden lures.
His work is so good that many of the touring professional anglers from all over the United States buy baits from him. Some of his work is listed on eBay and has received bids as high as $70 to $80 for one lure.
In contrast to Crow, Sobczak knows all about tournament bass fishing. Bass N Bucks and Bass Champs are a couple of the tournaments that he regularly fishes.
In 2005, Sobczak and Turner won their first collegiate tournament.
"We were number one in the nation for almost two years," Sobczak said. "We were the big shots coming in at Lewisville. I guess we did well, but we didn't do as good as we would have liked."
Conroe's Kenny Stewart, who attends Texas A&M University, was also fishing in the National Championship and in Lewisville for the first time. His fishing partner was Andy Rice. They finished in twentieth place with 12.58 ounces of bass.
"It was easy to catch fish; it was just hard to catch keeper fish," Stewart said.
Many of their better fish were caught in late afternoon on finesse baits. He says he thinks he caught the biggest fish of the tournament, which was around five pounds.
"It didn't earn me anything, but I was able to say we sucked it up and caught the biggest fish," Stewart said.